Beit Shemesh Mayor Appeals Election Disqualification To High Court

Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul filed a request to the Supreme Court Thursday to appeal last month’s disqualification of the local election results, which had given him victory.

Eli Cohen, a secular candidate, narrowly lost to Abutbul in October’s balloting. But about two weeks ago, the Yerushalayim District Court ruled that a new mayoral election be held, after accepting appeals by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and Cohen against the election results. The appellants argued that police found voting irregularities before and during the election, raising strong suspicion that Abutbul’s victory was obtained illegally.

The mayor’s request, submitted by attorney Yaakov Weinroth, criticizes the district court’s decision to annul the election results, mainly because only 36 votes were proved to be illegal. Read more here.